The Delhi High Court has called for all records pertaining to Union Textile Minister’s claim of being a graduate in her election papers.
Image: PTI
The court order has come in response to an appeal filed by a petitioner named Ahmed Khan alleging that Irani had filed false information, reports NDTV.
Last year a lower court in Delhi had dismissed Khan’s petition on the ground that it was meant to “needlessly harass her”.
Khan had alleged that Irani had filed contradictory statements about her educational status for contesting different elections in 2004 and 2014.
A Rajya Sabha MP, Irani was Minister for Human Resources Development (includes education) when the case was first filed.
Lawyers in the case told NDTV today that the Delhi High Court will examine case records before deciding to summon Ms Irani or anyone else. For the actor turned politician, it opens up what was a headache for months.
Among the grounds for dismissal of the case in October last year was that there was “a great delay of 11 years” in filing the case and that "original evidence has already been lost due to passage of years, secondary evidence won't be enough for court."
Both the Election Commission and Delhi University have said Ms Irani's graduation degree cannot be traced.
According to Khan in 2004 Irani had stated she had a 1996 BA Arts degree from Delhi College while in the 2014 statement she had given her highest educational qualification as BCom Part 1 (correspondence course) from Delhi University.
Khan alleged she had deliberately fudged her educational details which is punishable under law.